Rediscovery
by Fire Magus
Summary: Lupin and Tonks go missing, leaving their baby daughter in the care of her only other relative – Draco Malfoy. Hermione Granger, now an auror, is in charge of the case to find Lupin and Tonks and is also in charge of keeping an eye on Malfoy. HGDM.
1. A Bad Day for Malfoy

**Hello, all! This here is my newest story (for now, anyway), and it will be quite different from _Malfoy Gets a Puppy_. That was obviously a very light, humourous story. This is intended to be a bit more serious. Please leave me reviews, because I really have no idea whether or not anyone is interested in this. I'd love to know, but no flames!**

**Story: Rediscovery**

**Pairings: Hermione/Draco, Lupin/Tonks, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hannah.**

**HALF-BLOOD PRINCE SPOILERS!**

**Plot: Post HBP. Lupin and Tonks go missing, leaving their baby daughter in the care of her only other relative – Draco Malfoy. Hermione Granger, now an auror, is in charge of the case to find Lupin and Tonks and is also in charge of keeping an eye on Malfoy. Slowly, she finds herself drawn to him...**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and anything else you don't recognize. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, of course!**

**Chapter 1 – A Bad Day for Malfoy **

Draco Malfoy was not having a good day.

And it was only 7 A.M. in the morning.

He had woken from a restless night of sleep, despite the fact that his large, antique, luxurious Malfoy bed was comfortable enough to send an insomniac into blissful rest. He tripped over himself in his exhaustion on the way down to the kitchen, landing most ungracefully in a heap on the floor at the foot of the stairs. What was worse was that two house elves had been standing there; one was completely squashed by Draco while the other squeaked in horror, then proceeded to physically punish himself, believing himself responsible for Draco's shocking, bow-like position before him. Draco was equally shocked to find himself in such a position before the elf, but the elf ran off before he could punish him.

"Bloody elf," Draco muttered as he moodily stabbed his breakfast with a fork. Life sucked. Lucius was dead, killed by _Neville Longbottom_, for Merlin's sake, five years ago during the final battle with Voldemort in Draco's seventh year. His mother was in St. Mungo's – and here Draco felt his heart clench with pain, anger, and helplessness – because her own _sister_ had tortured her into insanity when she did not reveal the whearabouts of Lucius. Draco could not understand why his mother had even bothered to stand up for the cowardly bastard. The hypocritical bastard who served a half-blood while going on and on about the importance of pure blood ancestry, and of Malfoys serving no one but themselves.

At that moment, there was a very loud knock on the door.

Draco ignored it, leaving the house elf to deal with it. Just as he was about to take a hearty bite into his gourmet muffin, one of the house elves – Squeaky, was it? - popped up. Great, thought Draco. I can't even _eat_.

"What is it?" he glowered.

"S-s-sir, there is someone at the door who is wanting to see you, sir!" Squeaky squeaked. Hence the name "Squeaky."

"Tell them to go away or wait," Draco said irritably. "It's too early in the morning to be seeing anyone."

"B-b-but sir, it's... it's one of _them_..."

Draco put down his muffin abruptly. One of _them_, was it? He really wasn't having a good day.

"I'll see to it," Draco grumbled. "You, on the other hand... make sure no one else is lurking about on the grounds." With that Draco left his breakfast to sit all by itself and headed towards the impressive entrace hall, where the door stood open. Sunlight poured directly in through the door, silhouetting the guest; it was a dramatic sight, especially when one saw one of Draco's other house elves cowering in the corner. Looking down his nose in contempt at Freaky, he stepped warily towards the door.

"And who might be interrupting me at such a time as this?" he growled unpleasantly, while shifting slightly so that he'd be able to whip out his wand at the slightest notice.

The guest suddenly, without warning, stepped into the house and, turning, shut the front door behind them. Draco was on the self-invited guest in half a second, pressing his body against their back and pinning them to the door while wrapping his left arm around their neck.

The guest was a woman. She was tense but made no sound.

"An auror," Draco spat, close to her right ear. "You stupid meddlers just keep coming back, don't you? You all just insist on searching my house over and over for dark objects. No, not even that... you're all just searching for _anything_ that will tell you more about my father."

He paused, then spoke again.

"Well, guess what. Tell your friggin department to get their hairy asses out of my business, out of my _life_, and to leave me alone before I-"

"Malfoy, just shut up for a minute!" the woman gasped.

Draco loosened his grip in complete surprise. Her voice was familiar. And she... she dared speak to him on so personal a level? Did she know him then? On a more personal level, and not just as that son of the deatheater who everyone feared?

Draco slowly turned the woman around so that he was pinning her back, not her front, to the door now. It took him two seconds before he recognized her.

Hermione Granger.

He suppressed the instinct to jump back from the Mudblood in disgust – no way was he giving her the chance to reach for her wand.

"Granger," he hissed instead, eyeing her face with intense dislike. The expression on her face mirrored his own. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

It had, indeed, been a while. Last time he'd seen her, she and the then-secret Order of the Phoenix had been inside this very house, mediwizards and witches tending to him, grievously injured after dashing off to rescue his mother from Voldemort. His mother couldn't be healed by a couple of mediwizards and witches. Draco vaguely remembered screaming in rage at everyone and everything, remembered seeing Granger and Potter and Weasley huddled near the fireplace, murmuring, before he passed out. That was five years ago.

Granger still had the bushy hair. Some things never changed.

But she was an auror now.

"Unhand me, Malfoy," she said in an icy voice, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Or I will be forced to use my auror training against you, and you know my prowess with a wand."

Draco sneered. "You come waltzing into my home like you own it and expect me to just let you sit down to tea? You expect me to _unhand you_ so that you can stupefy me and search my house? You know I'm not that stupid."

She was silent for a moment, before she spoke.

"Point taken. I swear on my mother's blood that I will not attempt to harm you in any way. Now let me go."

Draco was a pretty good occlumens, and could tell she wasn't lying. With a growl he stepped back, but never let his eyes leave her. "Explain why you're here, then," he said coldly.

"Your cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, and her husband, Lupin, have gone missing," Hermione said in a clipped tone, her eyes watching his face for reaction. Draco showed none.

"So what?" he said.

Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"She's your _family_, for Merlin's sake, Malfoy! In fact... you're the only family she's got right now."

Draco wasn't sure where this was going, but it didn't sound good.

"As you know... Tonks and Lupin had a child a year ago. A baby girl. While her parents have gone missing, the child has not. And you -" and here she hesitated before going on - "as the only living blood relative of either Tonks or Lupin – well, the child is to go into your care until they are found again."

Draco stared at her stonily. Hermione suddenly looked a bit uncertain.

"You _will_ take care of her, won't you?"

Draco continued to stare at her stonily. In stony silence. Perhaps he looked stoned, too.

Hermione sighed. "Right, well... If you don't take care of her – if anything happens to her – you can be charged with child neglect. So you're taking care of her whether or not you like it. Or just... why don't you just hire a nanny or something?"

Draco finally opened his mouth.

"Where is the child?"

The coldness of his tone frightened Hermion. She didn't think it a good idea to hand over the child of two of her close co workers (and her heart clenched as she thought of them missing, maybe even dead) to the son of a former death eater. Said son never chose a side to fight on, so although he likely was not dark, he was not light, either.

"The child, Granger. Or are Mudbloods deaf, too?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes in anger, reaching for her wand without thinking about it.

"Going to break that oath on your mother's blood so fast, are you?" Draco smirked nastily.

"The child is currently in the care of Mr and Mrs Weasley," Hermione said, ignoring Draco's comment and pretending she'd never reached for her wand. Draco opened his mouth to cut in, but Hermione beat him to it. "If you're going to ask why the child can't just stay with them, it's because of legal issues. According to wizard law, children under seventeen are sent to live with their closest living relative if no parents or previously appointed guardians are available, or if the parents or guardians have not left instructions on where the child should be left while they are absent. So Cassie is staying with you, Malfoy."

"Cassie?" Draco asked, sneering. "What kind of name is that?"

Granger sniffed at him, irritably, forcefully reminding Malfoy of bygone Hogwarts days. "Her full name is Cassiopeia, after her great-grandmother."

Draco rolled his eyes.

"So if I don't take in my... second cousin, I will be-"

"Fined or possibly jailed," Hermione said. "Believe me, we'd much rather have Cassie in _our_ care -" and by _our_ it was obvious that she meant the goody-two-shoes Golden Trio and their supporters - "but the law is the law."

Draco said nothing. Hermione decided to try and interpret his silence this time, and decided to believe his silence meant he'd comply.

"Right. So I'll be dropping by again in a day or two to bring Cassie. Don't you try to run off to some summer cottage to hide out, now, Malfoy. We'll be keeping an eye on this house."

Draco growled in outrage. "Do I not have any privacy anymore?" he all but yelled, but Hermione had already opened the door and was walking down the path to the gates. Draco swore in frustration at how his day was turning out, then slammed the door shut. Freaky the elf looked on balefully from the corner.

**Well? What did you think? Hit that review button right now and tell me! Reviewers are awesome.**

**G'nite, folks. **


	2. How Tonks and Lupin Disappeared

Disclaimer: everything but the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling.

* * *

**Chapter 2 – How Tonks and Lupin Disappeared**

Hermione left Malfoy Manor feeling rather aggravated. Once outside the gates she apparated straight to the lawn of the Burrow, where she would have to break it to Mrs Weasley that no, Cassie could not stay with them until Tonks and Lupin were found. Squaring her shoulders, she marched to the front door and let herself in after muttering a password.

"Hermione!" someone called as soon as she entered the front hall. Ginny came striding quickly towards Hermione and dragged her into the kitchen where Mrs Weasley busily chopped vegetables, pans and pots stirring themselves on the stove. Glancing at the famous Weasley clock, Hermione saw that Fred and George were at their shop, Bill was at Gringotts, Mr Weasley was shopping, and Ron was at the ministry.

"Hermione," Mrs Weasley greeted her, smiling warmly over her shoulder at the young woman. "How'd it go?"

"Here, drink this," Ginny said, shoving a cup of hot chocolate at Hermione as though she had just returned from a traumatizing experience and was badly in need of some chocolate therapy. Actually, thought Hermione, that wasn't too far off.

"It only confirmed my thoughts that Malfoy is the _last_ person we should be leaving Cassie with," Hermione said. Her forehead crinkled in anxiety. "He didn't care one whit that the poor baby girl's parents are gone. The only reason he's agreed to look after her is because it's the _law_. And because he can just hire a nanny, he doesn't have to do anything himself."

"What else could we expect from Malfoy?" Ginny sighed. "The guy's a reclusive evil son of a death eater."

"I don't know about evil," Hermione mused as she settled back comfortably in the kitchen chair, sipping hot chocolate. Some of her anxiety was already starting to dissipate. She loved the Burrow - it truly was her second home. "I think evil fit Malfoy during our Hogwarts days, yes... but now he just seems cold and indifferent."

"Either way," Mrs Weasley said, "I will be extremely worried about the baby. What kind of environment is that for her to grow up in?"

"Mum!" Ginny said. "It's not like... it's not like Tonks and Lupin are... you know..."

"We don't know that!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed. Her back was turned to the two girls as she chopped the vegetables, but they could hear the fear in her voice. "If they are, we can't have Cassie growing up at Malfoy Manor, for goodness's sake. She'd turn out to be a deprivated, neglected child, starved of love! And on top of that, she is the daughter of a metamorphmagus and a werewolf. She is _bound_ to be different from the average witch when she gets older – her hair colour already changes! - and she'll have special needs, she'll need someone to explain to her why she is the way she is. She'll need someone to teach her how to control her special powers."

"You're right, you're right," Hermione hurriedly said before Mrs Weasley got the chance to launch into a full out rant. "That's why I'll be checking in at Malfoy Manor every chance I get, to spend time with the baby and make sure she's okay. It's also an ample opportunity to do some snooping..."

Ginny laughed. "Hermione, ever the resourceful one," she grinned. "I'd like to come along sometime, too," she said. "Two aurors are better than one, especially at the Malfoy's."

"Oh, I don't know," Hermione grinned slyly. "I thought you'd be too busy attending to your auror duties with _Harry_."

Ginny didn't even blush, returning Hermione's sly grin instead. "Ah, well... gotta take a break every now and then, don't I? Don't want to get too tired of him-"

"Ginny, darling, could you _please_ talk about that elsewhere?" Mrs Weasley groaned. Hermione and Ginny laughed and, getting up, headed upstairs to check on the baby.

* * *

They found out Lupin and Tonks were missing precisely five days ago.

Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Kingsley, and Arthur Weasley had all been in the aurors' office, which was divided up into cubicles. Hermione had been taking a break from her teetering pile of paperwork and was sipping a cup of tea while reading _The Daily Prophet_ when there was a commotion somewhere around Harry's cubicle. Putting down her cup of tea, Hermione peered over the wall of her cubicle just in time to see Harry, looking worried, come out and say in a commanding tone,

"All aurors to the board room immediately! Mr Weasley, please join us, as well."

His tone was so serious that no questions were asked. Hermione rushed into the adjoining board room, exchanging an anxious glance with Ginny, before she and the rest of the aurors found a seat. Harry assumed position at the head of the table, as sub head of the auror department – the head, Moody, was away on business that day.

"As you know, Tonks was sent on a mission to northern Russia about a month ago," Harry said slowly. "To check up on Vladimir Tchekov and whether or not rumours that he sold dark weapons and objects to deatheaters during the war was true."

Heads around the table nodded.

"We decided it would be best to send Tonks alone, to give her as much discretion as possible, but her husband Lupin decided to accompany her. He wasn't happy about his wife going into such dangerous territory alone, even though that's part of her job. In the end, Tonks let him come with her."

Harry paused to look around at everyone to make sure they were listening. Hermione couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't be listening.

"For the first week after they left, we received regular reports and feedback from Tonks and Lupin on the status of the mission. In the last three weeks we have not received anything from them, however," Harry said. "Of course, we assumed they were deeper into the mission now and unable to safely contact us. That's not an uncommon occurrence. We were just starting to get a little worried, but now we're _really _worried. We received a letter just moments ago from an unknown source."

Harry reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a piece of paper. He cleared his throat, then began to read the words written on it:

"Tonks and Lupin are in our hands now. You will do as I say if you wish to keep them alive."

Hermione stared at Harry, trying to let that information sink in. Ron was looking at Harry expectantly, thinking there was more to the letter.

"That's it," said Harry flatly. "That's all that was written. And it explains why they haven't contacted us for so long."

The table was silent for a moment. Then-

"Who would've taken Tonks and Lupin?"

The question came from Laura Waterwrench, a tall auror in her mid-thirties who was very athletic and could beat the crap out of anyone but Kingsley Shacklebolt in a wandless fight.

"I don't know," Harry said heavily in response to her question.

"You don't think Tchekov caught on to what they were up to, do you?" Mr Weasley asked. "I mean, Tonks could make herself look like a nasty deatheater to keep her cover. There shouldn't have been anything to make Tchekov get suspicious."

"But maybe someone else found out and told him," Ron interjected.

"What would Tchekov want from us, anyway?" Kingsley Shacklebolt said. "Besides money, I can't think of any other reason why a Russian would want to entangle himself with the British."

Harry smiled wryly at the comment.

"I think," Hermione said, speaking at last, "that we should remember the letter said 'Tonks and Lupin are in _our_ hands,' which means this isn't just one person we're dealing with."

Discussion broke out all over the place for the next few minutes as everyone debated over whether or not Tonks and Lupin's covers were blown, how it could have happened, who was taking advantage of them, and what the captors wanted in return for keeping them alive.

Finally Harry roared, "Silence!" Chatter stopped immediately. "Listen. We don't know what the captors want from us in exchange for Lupin and Tonks's lives – I assume they'll send us another letter later about that. They're trying to scare us right now. What we need to do is get on this case. We are not going to let some criminal take advantage of our co worker and her husband, who is a friend to everyone in this room. I'm assigning this case to Hermione, Ginny, and Kingsley. No, Ron, we need you to take care of your other case right now."

He turned to look Hermione, Ginny, and Kingsley each in the eye. "I have full faith in you. You need to find out what's happened to those two as soon as possible. Get to work. Meeting dismissed."

Hermione stood up, suddenly feeling worn out. This was her first missing persons case on people she personally knew and loved. The desire to find them unharmed would be a major, driving force for her. As she left the board room to call a tracer – someone to figure out where the letter had come from – she felt someone catch her wrist.

"Hermione," Harry said. Hermione smiled weakly at him, and he slipped his fingers through her own to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry about it. We'll find them. But right now, I need to talk to you about Cassie. About who's care she will be under now that her parents are missing."

* * *

Cassie was fast asleep in her crib when Hermione and Ginny approached her room, but she woke up when they entered. Her eyes were a startling grey, her skin smooth and pale, and her hair – at the moment – was green. It tended to change randomly – her facial features occasionally did so, too, which Cassie's mother found very unnerving – but the baby had no control over these changes yet.

"Cassie," Ginny cooed, reaching into the crib to scoop her out. Cassie gurgled a bit, then grinned at Ginny. Hermione's stress melted away completely upon seeing the smile. How could anything in the world be wrong after seeing a baby smile? she thought. A baby's smile was completely pure, utterly devoid of any intention but pleasure at what it was seeing.

Ginny rocked Cassie, tickling her cheeks, while Hermione huffed and pretended to be jealous. "Oh, she likes you now," Hermione grinned, "but when she gets older and starts recognizing what scary features you have-"

Ginny covered Cassie's ears in mock anger. "How dare you taint her ears with such... such awful implications!" she cried. Hermione and Ginny looked at each other, then started to giggle. Ginny handed the baby over to Hermione, and then they sat on the bed to talk.

"How've you been?" Ginny asked seriously.

"I'm all right," Hermione replied, bouncing Cassie on her knee and reveling in the baby's gurgles of appreciation. "Worried about this little one's parents, of course, but otherwise I'm all right."

"It's the same for me," Ginny said. "But Harry's been stressed lately... it's a lot of work, filling in for Moody while he's gone."

"I don't know how Harry does it," Hermione murmured. "He has lived through things that many don't see in their entire lifetime, but he came out okay."

"And beat the evilest wizard to ever have walked the planet," Ginny added with a smile.

"Ginny, when are you two going to get married?" Hermione demanded rather suddenly. Ginny, taken aback, turned bright red.

"I don't know..." she said, obviously fighting to tone down her blush. "Harry'll probably be lousy at proposing, maybe that's why he hasn't proposed yet?"

Hermione grinned.

"I can just imagine it," she said. "You two chasing after some former deatheater, hexes and curses flying left and right, and Harry going – oh, by the way, Ginny, wanna marry me?"

Cassie wrapped her hand in some of Hermione's bounteous hair and tugged. Cassie's own hair then turned an interesting shade of purple.

Ginny laughed. "That'll be a story to tell my grandkids. But how's it going with Jake?"

"Jake," Hermione said, wrinkling her nose, "is last week's garbage. I'm _finished_ with that useless lump of coal."

"Why-"

"He dated _three_ girls behind my back! And the bloody bastard was such a sneak that I didn't have a _clue_ until I walked in on him in his office doing un_speak_able things with some stupid skinny blonde! So after I was done throwing the woman out of the room, Jake broke down and confessed he'd seen three women behind my back because _I wasn't giving him what he needed_."

"Er-" Ginny tried to cut in, concerned about Hermione ranting while holding the baby, but Hermione plowed on.

"So of course I told him he could go back to his cheap whores and that if he ever showed me his face again, I'd hex him into oblivion!"

Cassie burst into tears.

"Could you yell any louder, Hermione?" Ginny said, half-amused, half-exasperated. "You really needed to let that out – why didn't you tell me before instead of bursting and causing poor Cassie great amounts of distress?"

"Sorry, sweetie," Hermione cooed, holding her against her chest and rubbing her back. "And I'm sorry, Gin," she added with a lopsided grin once Cassie was calm again. "I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier."

"Ah, well," Ginny said. "I knew, anyway. The entire ministry could hear you yelling."

Hermione turned red.

"And you're pretty famous for how you treat a guy you like doing dirty things with another woman, too..."

Hermione laughed nervously, remembering what she'd done to Ron in sixth year after getting sick of seeing him making out with Lavender all over the place.

"Let's go get something to eat," Ginny suggested. "Looks like Cassie could do with some food, too."

"Deal," Hermione said, relieved at the change of topic, and they headed downstairs to the kitchen.

**Sorry for the lack of Draco/Hermione action in this chapter. They should be meeting next chapter, though, since Hermione will soon be delivering Cassie into his cold, indifferent hands...**

**Thank you to all my reviewers! You guys make writing even more of a joy. And to Reanne1102, I do plan to let Draco see Hermione's motherly side. And we shall find out if Draco has a motherly side. Lol.**

**Happy reviewing,**

**Nabila :)**


	3. Delivering the Baby

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything but the plot. Oh, and Cassie, too.

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Delivering the Baby**

Two days had passed since Hermione had first visited Malfoy Manor to deliver its owner news of his new responsibilites about a certain baby. Now it was time to deliver the actual baby.

Hermione wasn't looking forward to this.

"Are you certain you've got everything?" Mrs Weasley asked worriedly while hovering around Hermione as she laced on her boots. It was late autumn and getting colder by the day, and Hermione hated getting her feet cold.

"Mum, she's fine," Ginny said from her position leaning against the wall near the front door. "And Cassie will be fine – she's _not_ going to live her entire life at Malfoy Manor, mum! Lupin and Tonks can't be... can't be dead. We'll find them and give Cassie back to them."

"Yes, but until then, she'll be in the hands of _Draco Malfoy_," Mrs Weasley said.

Hermione smiled comfortingly.

"Don't worry about it," she said, although she herself was worrying about it. "I'm... I will be checking up on her regularly. I've told you all this before. It'll be okay."

"You better get going," said Ginny. She reached down to stroke the vivid blue hair of Cassie, now asleep in a little carrying basket, before Mrs Weasley planted a motherly kiss on the little one's forehead.

"Good luck," Ginny smiled.

"Be careful," Mrs Weasley warned.

Hermione nodded and, with a wave, picked up the carrying basket and stepped outside the front door. Two seconds later she had disapparated to land in front of Malfoy Manor's gates. With a sigh, she took out her auror identification card so that the security gate let her pass through – they had to threaten to throw Malfoy in jail in order to get him to change the Manor's defenses in order to let aurors pass through – but then again, you had to threaten Malfoy with Azkaban to get him to do _any_thing nowadays. Stupid pain in the derrière, Hermione thought.

She strode to the front door and was let in by a house elf at whom she smiled kindly; the house elf, in turn, stared at her as though she were crazy and ran off to summon Malfoy.

The bloody jerk took fifteen minutes to come down to the parlour in which Hermione was seated, and on top of that, his hair was a mess and his shirt wasn't buttoned properly. He glowered at her as he strode into the beautiful room, as though her presence tarnished the expensive furniture. Then his eyes moved to the baby now held in Hermione's arms.

His lip curled as he took in Cassie's blue hair.

"So you brought the hybrid, did you?" he said, eyeing Cassie with contempt.

Hermione was incredibly tempted to tell him off – how _dare_ he judge an innocent baby! - but she held her tongue. If she made him angry, he might refuse to take Cassie in, and then Hermione would have to call aurors to threaten him with Azkaban, and that would just be yet another pain in the derrière.

But she _had_ to defend Cassie.

"Do not speak of a fellow human being as a _hybrid_, Malfoy," she snapped.

"Why shouldn't I?" he sneered. "That's what she is, _Mudblood_."

Hermione's head snapped up to look him in the eye, and suddenly rage filled her. The disgusting little jerk was still calling her that five years after Hogwarts?

"You're pathetic," she spat. "You still can't get over the fact that pure blood doesn't make you perfect, you still insult people like me so that your pathetic existence is somewhat justified. I can_not_-"

"Shut up," Draco interrupted. His eyes glinted coldly. "You will not speak to me in that way in my house."

Hermione stood up, ignoring Cassie's soft whimper of protest. "I will speak to you in whatever way I wish," she said through gritted teeth. "Especially when you dare to insult me so."

"Get out."

"No."

"Get _out_!"

"I will _not_-"

"What seems to be the problem?"

Both Hermione and Draco turned towards the owner of the new voice.

It was none other than Pansy Parkinson, dressed in pink robes, her short dark hair framing her face. Her hair, like Malfoy's, was messy.

Hermione's eyes moved to Malfoy's own messy hair, and put two and two together. She suddenly felt sick as she realized what they must have been doing before she came, and why Malfoy took fifteen minutes to come down to meet her.

"What the heck?" Pansy said, as she recognized Hermione. Then-

"What the _hell_!" as her eyes found the baby with blue hair. "What freakish mom decided to dye-"

"It's Lupin and Tonks's child," Draco said. "Hence the freakish appearance of the child."

Malfoy, Hermione concluded, was an utter monster. No human could call an infant freakish. Yes, Malfoy was a monster.

"How about you two immature jerks shut up about the appearance of Cassie and show me whose care she'll be left under while she stays here?" Hermione snapped.

"Is the Mudblood insulting us?" Pansy sneered. "Should we show her her rightful place in the world, Draco?"

"Perhaps another time," Draco said, smiling unpleasantly as he moved to stand beside Pansy. "I'll have more fun planning out detailed ways of torturing the know-it-all."

"Oh, you're too much," Parkinson chuckled as Hermione seethed. Cassie whimpered a bit, and then started to cry. Hermione immediately turned her attentions to the baby, speaking in soft, soothing tones while rubbing her back.

"Look, Granger,you made her cry," Draco drawled. "At least I haven't done that yet. I guess she'll be in better hands now."

Hermione ignored him and her ever-mounting anger as she tried to make Cassie stop crying, but Cassie began to wail louder. Hermione rubbed her back, then reached into her bag for a bottle of milk. But Cassie didn't want milk. Hermione looked at Draco, then.

"I need a place where I can check her diaper."

His nose wrinkled in disgust before he said, "bathroom. Upstairs. Squeaky! Show Granger the way. Don't want her getting lost and poking around my stuff."

"Or mine," Pansy added suggestively.

Hermione left the parlour in relief, following Squeaky up the stairs to the second floor, turning right down a long hallway that took her to a majestic, very impressive bathroom.

"Miss Granger may use the counter to check baby's diapers," Squeaky squeaked as he led her towards the marble counters.

"Thanks," Hermione said, as Cassie continued to cry. Quickly placing her on the counter, she pulled off Cassie's little pants to check her diaper -

"Aw man," Hermione gagged. "She really needed a new one."

* * *

"Right," Pansy said as soon as Hermione had left the room. "What was _she_ doing here? Trying to search the house again?"

"Probably," Draco snorted. "Apparently I'm to look after my _dear_ cousin's child, because that cousin and her animal husband got it in their heads to get lost." His eyes glinted maliciously.

"So you'll be taking care of a _baby_?" Pansy purred, turning to Draco and stroking his cheek teasingly.

Draco smirked. "Why do you ask?" He slipped his arm around her waist.

"I do find it attractive when a man can handle children," she said, her voice low.

"And how about when a man can handle his women?" His voice was low now, too, and he was pulling her closer.

The next few minutes were silent as they engaged in various... activities... but when Draco's hands began to work their way up from her waist, Pansy broke away, tutting.

"Nuh uh uh," she smirked. "First of all, do you want Granger to walk in on us doing this?"

Draco's eyes narrowed in irritation. "Who cares?" he said. "She'd probably lunge at the chance to watch some action, seeing as she never gets any-"

"Actually, Malfoy, I know enough about your so called "action" to judge, from what I saw, that you obviously have little experience..."

Draco let go of Pansy's waist and turned with a growl to see Hermione.

"Shut the hell up, Granger," he hissed, feeling anger rise up in his chest. There was something about the stupid know it all that made him irrationally angry, that pulled all the wrong strings, that made him want to make her suffer. There she stood in the doorway of the parlour, his blue-haired relative in her arms, insulting his skills with women when he had had _far_ more experience than anything she'd had multiplied by ten... and she was _smirking_!

"Right, well, I'm off," Pansy said, sauntering towards the door and pausing only to look Hermione up and down with obvious contempt. "I've got things to do – I'll come back when the beaver's gone, Draco."

Draco didn't even hear her, he was so busy glaring at Hermione, who continued to smirk. She seemed to know how much it ticked him off.

The damn smirk was almost worthy of a Slytherin, too. Where the hell had she picked that up?

"So, about Cassie," she suddenly said, stepping into the room and taking her seat on an ornate chair. "You still haven't told me who'll be taking care of her."

Draco remained standing and glowered. "I don't give a damn who takes care of her," he said softly. "I'll leave her to a house elf."

Hermione clenched her jaw, trying to keep her patience. Which was very hard around a bastard like Malfoy.

"I, however, along with the Ministry, _do_ give a damn about who takes care of her," she said in an equally soft, but charged, voice. There was a warning note in there. Draco missed it.

"All this commotion over a stupid little child. Why don't you just get rid of her!"

One second later Cassie was on the chair and Hermione's hand was around Draco's throat, her other hand holding the wand that pointed at the vital organs in charge of breathing.

"I can strangle you," she said conversationally. "Or I could do it quickly and just make your lungs... forget how to function. Somehow I liked the first option better, you deserving _jerk_!"

Draco felt rage welling up in him, but he was helpless to do anything – he was helpless against _Granger_, which only made it worse – and then he remembered.

"So, Granger," he croaked, wincing as her hand tightened around his neck. "What about that oath on your mother's blood?"

"That only applied to my last visit here," she said, smirking again. "Got anything else to say before you die of a... sudden lack of oxygen?"

Draco could see over the top of Granger's bushy head – he could see the baby girl lying on the chair. She stared straight into his eyes with her own, large gray orbs... _so like my own_, he thought, unnerved. His attention quickly snapped back to Granger as he tightened her grip on his throat even more.

Self-preservation could be annoying at times, Malfoy thought, pissed. "Wont – get – rid – of her!" he gasped out.

"You will never neglect her while she is under your care!" Hermione growled.

"Will – never – neglect – Cassie – undermycare!" he repeated, choking.

"Swear it on _your_ mother's blood," she hissed.

Draco closed his eyes, remembering the bright red liquid that had flowed from the gashes striping his mother's skin. The blood that soaked her hair, her clothes, his hands when he carried her and ran...

"Swear it – on my – my mother's blood," he whispered.

And then her hand was gone from his neck and he could breathe again. He gasped in great gulps of air, his eyes still closed, a little too shaken to say anything but making sure his face was expressionless nonetheless.

"Remember, Malfoy," her stupid, hated, know-it-all voice said from a few feet away. "We'll be watching you. You make one wrong move and we'll _burn_ all your wealth."

Draco opened his eyes and looked at her with complete and utter loathing.

"I'll be back," she said, then turned, stroked Cassie's head, and left the room. He heard the front door open, then bang shut, leaving him in utter silence.

Cassie stared at him.

"What?" Draco growled, glaring at her.

She continued to eye him with interest – and then her hair turned the pale blond colour that exactly matched his own.

"Friggin chameleon," Draco muttered, as a smile randomly lit up her face, then faded away.

Or was it a random smile?

"Squeaky!" he shouted, wanting to leave the room before he thought too hard about the baby. "Look after... Cassie." He said the name with distaste, but Squeaky caught the uncertain look on his face before he left the parlour to retreat to the privacy of his study.

**Thanks again for the reviews, guys! Feedback, advice, and ideas are welcome. i.e. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! They totally make my day.**

**...and let it snow!**

**-Nabila :-)**


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